Creating Passion-Driven Teams: How to Stop Micromanaging and Motivate People to Top Performance

Chapter 6

The Myths of Motivation

Perhaps you’ve accused someone of lacking motivation, or maybe you’ve heard someone else use that phrase. The problem? The idea that people lack motivation is bad psychology. It’s a myth. If we’re going to create passion-driven teams, we need a clear understanding about what drives people to do what they do.

Simply stated, the word motivation means “a reason to move.” If you think about it, every action we take has a reason behind it. We eat when we’re hungry, and we drink when we’re thirsty. When it’s late and we’re tired, we head off to bed.

Continuing in motivational terms, when we’re cold, we are motivated to seek warmth. If we’re curious to find out what’s going on in the world, we’re motivated to find ...